Gundam SEED Destiny: ZAKU
by GK
Summary: Saven had the misfortune to be at Armory One when the three Gundams were stolen, and now he finds himself caught in the chase to reclaim ZAFT's machines.


**Mobile Suit: Gundam SEED Destiny ZAKU**

**Forward:**

You seem to have unwittingly stumbled upon my fan fiction. To provide a quick introduction before you start, ZAKU is an accompaniment to Gundam Seed Destiny in the same was that Gundam Seed Astray was an accompaniment to Gundam Seed, as in it just occurs with the main storyline of the show and only lightly touches into the show's plot. The fan-fiction will use elements from Gundam Seed, Gundam Seed Astray (Rarely), the Gundam Seed Specials, and of course, Gundam Seed Destiny. At the end of every chapter, I'll try to include small notes to references you may not have known.

Well, I'm trying to keep this intro short so I can get you to the story, so I suppose the only other thing you really need to know is that the phases/chapters correspond to the show's episodes. In simpler terms, Phase 01 of Gundam Seed Destiny, entitled Angry Eyes, occurs within the same time frame as Phase 01 of Gundam Seed Destiny ZAKU, which is entitled Vengeful Spirits.

That's all the time that I'll ramble, enjoy.

**PHASE-01**

**Vengeful Spirits**

As he finished buttoning his green Zaft uniform, Saven glanced at himself in the mirror, focusing on the blue eyes of the brown haired young man that he saw. What would become of him? Who knew what this battle could encompass. It was now a small intermission in the fight that had been provided by GENESIS's first shot. The second shot…

Saven didn't approve with this apparently senseless massacre, but in the long run, in may be for the greater good of humanity. This battle, here, at Jachin Due, could end the seemingly endless war.

Saven was to go into battle with a GINN High Maneuver Type, a variation on the regular GINN that his commander claimed would serve him well. He had made sure that his GINN had been outfitted with GuAIZ's beam rifle and shield so he wouldn't have to rely on the mobile suit's sword, which could have proven deadly in a battle like this.

His last unit, a GuAIZ, had been easily destroyed in his last time out in battle by one of the Nuclear-Powered mobiles suits that had been stolen from Zaft. The Freedom, he was fairly sure that it had been that one. The pilot of that suit must be a curious character to know. He had stolen a weapon of incredible power, yet apparently tries his best not to kill anyone with it.

Quite a character indeed.

A knock on the door quickly shook Saven out of his thoughts. "Come in," he spoke as he adjusted his collar. A man slightly taller than Saven with the same blue eyes, yet blond hair stepped into the room. His red uniform seemed to make the room slowly begin to revolve around him, or at least it presumably did in the wearer's mind. Rilan had always had an ego, but Saven had learned to live with it.

"Are you all ready to go?" Rilan spoke, even though Saven knew what was really on his mind.

"Of course. They've got my suit ready, right?"

Rilan responded with a nod. "I'll be going out in a prototype. It's a variation of the GuAIZ that is meant to try out several new kinds of weapons that were eventually put on the two nuclear powered suits. It's quite impressive in battle from what I've heard, and they think I'll be able to adapt to it quickly."

Saven laughed at that. _They_ didn't think he would adapt to it, he thought he would.

"Listen… Saven. I know this will be dangerous, but I want to let you know… I'll cover your back as well as I can, and I hope you'll cover mine. We need to make it home to mom and dad together."

Saven smiled at his brother. At least he knew the severity of the situation. Reaching out to shake his hand, Saven replied. "Agreed. Listen, we'll make it through this. We will. There's no need to be afraid."

A reassured smile appeared on Rilan's face as he grabbed Saven's hand and shook it lightly. "Of course, of course."

Less than an hour later, the brothers were in their flight suits and prepared to launch. Saven's GINN with GuAIZ weapons was an interesting sight. But Rilan's mobile suit was even more interesting. A yellow GuAIZ equipped with a high-output beam rifle, railguns on its hips, and an enormous flight pack on its back. It was a very impressive model indeed.

Laughing to himself, Saven muttered, "It makes me wonder why I don't have one."

The radio blared over his suit's intercom. "All mobile suits, prepare for launch. GINN High Maneuver Type, please proceed to the catapult."

Saven jammed buttons to make the machine move and quickly reach the catapult. As the hatch opened, Rilan appeared in the corner of the screen in Saven's cockpit, given him a salute in his red uniform. Saven smiled and returned the salute.

"GINN, High Manuever Type. This is Saven, launching!"

Feeling the thrust of the catapult as his mobile suit was flung out of the Nazca class ship into the already chaotic battle, Saven immediately targeted and shot down the nearest Earth Alliance mobile suit. Several incoming beams were detected from its squadmates. Saven thoughtlessly jammed buttons to skillfully maneuver the GINN out of their beams path while simultaneously flying at them. Before the natural pilot could realize what had happened, Saven whipped out his GINN's massive sword and sliced the mobile suit in two. Quickly proceeding to the next one in the group, Saven kicked the mobile suit in the head, which, due to the GINN's various boosters, had enough force to remove the body part from the mobile suit. Saven immediately shot the decapitated machine in the torso with his rifle to destroy it. The final member of the Dagger squad attempted to slash at Saven from behind with a beam saber, but before the Dagger's pilot knew it, Saven was behind him. Quickly skewering the Dagger through the torso, Saven quickly yanked out the sword and flew towards his next group of enemies.

Closing in on a group of at least 10 Daggers, Saven smiled as Rilan joined him. Two green beams from the flight pack of Rilan's GuAIZ quickly ripped apart two of the mobile suits. A well aimed shot from Saven's GINN destroyed another, while the beam rifle and two railguns on Rilan's suit destroyed three more. Rilan grabbed both beam swords from his machine's hips and connected them to create a double-sided blade of light while Saven removed his GINN's sword from its sheath. They were quite the pair. In one smooth motion, Saven sliced two of the daggers in half, while Rilan cut apart the other pair, one with each blade.

An object of interest was highlighted on Saven's monitor. He quickly sent its coordinates to Rilan.

"You know what that is Rilan, don't you?"

His brother laughed at their luck. "Justice!"

The brothers sped off in the direction of the red mobile suit heading for Jachin Due. Meanwhile, in another section of the battlefield, the pilot of Freedom fought for his life against the legendary pilot of Providence.

Arriving at Jachin Due, Rilan quickly landed on the fortress and began firing at Justice while Saven prepared his sword while flying towards the stolen machine. A red and pink mobile suit accompanying Justice, one that looked very much like the Earth Alliance's Strike, quickly noticed Saven and prepared to fire, when time it self was still.

Green beams extended from the cannons on Justice's flight pack. Saven stared at his left monitor in terror. The beam was penetrating through the yellow GuAIZ.

"RILAN!!!"

Saven lost control of himself as his brother's machine exploded. He fell forward in his cockpit, hunched over as tears fell from his eyes. He raised his eyes to the monitors in his cockpit as tears continued to stream out of him.

Where was Justice?

That was all he cared about. The siren of an incoming rifle shot didn't phase him until his machine shook with the force of impact. Something within him burst. Some limit to his abilities disappeared. Saven through away the GuAIZ rifle in the GINN's hand and drew out the GINN's sword while igniting the beam claws on the GuAIZ shield. He focused all thrusters to getting him to the mobile suit that was attacking him.

The Natural was dead before he could have realized Saven was coming for him. Saven tore apart the Dagger and quickly turned to another one attempting to attack him. It was in pieces as well.

Turning to the next one who dared to oppose him, his mobile suit's head was slashed off. Saven quickly made the GINN shoot backwards as all of the monitors went to static. He slammed on the button to open the cockpit so he could see his enemy. Sure enough, there he was. Not targeting sensors, nothing. Nothing was between the pilot of the Dagger and death but Saven. Flying down at him, the dagger was torn apart by both the GuAIZ shield's energy claws and the GINN's sword. He was only one of many.

Saven was a monstrosity that day. He met no equal in combat, and didn't think for a moment about his own safety. When the fighting stopped, Saven collapsed within his open cockpit. Staring into the emptiness of space in front of him, he felt the barrier between him and his abilities reform.

One day.

One day, the pilot of Justice will die.

That was Saven's last thought as he slipped into unconsciousness.

------------------------------------------------------------

Saven plopped himself down on a rock and stared curiously downward at the plane that Chairman Dullindal was disembarking from. Reaching up, Saven shook the collar of his red uniform to make it a bit looser on his neck. The chairman of the Council was here. Then again, why wouldn't he be, since the Minerva launching soon.

As the chairman disappeared into the building that he had landed in front of, Saven pushed himself off of the rock and began walking down the rows of hangars. There was chaos in trying to prepare for the maiden voyage of the Minerva. Ceremonial GINNs were everywhere, along with most of ZAFT's other mobile suits. The new Zaku Warriors would be there too, probably some Zaku Phantoms too. But it was none of his concern.

Saven was scheduled to have quite a unique part in the ceremony, but he couldn't decide whether it was an honor or a way of undermining his status. Saven sighed as he turned into Hanger 14. He had nothing else to do, so he might as well get ready for the ceremony. A maintenance personnel member quickly walked over to him. He gave a salute in apparent acknowledgement for Saven's red uniform, then proceeded to stare at his clipboard while talking.

"Your name?"

"Saven Henlon."

The man cocked an eyebrow at him. "Ah, yes, you have _that_ machine. It's not as bad as you'd think. It maneuvers better than a regular Zaku, plus it would be better armed in combat. They said it was too expensive to mass-produce, so they toned it down for the Zaku Warrior. I'd say it's on the same level as a Zaku Phantom."

"I see…" muttered Saven as he stared into the large black and yellow figure behind the man. A prototype Zaku. Why bother including it in the ceremony? It's not like anyone would ever see it on the battlefield.

"Anyhow, there's no point in putting on a flight suit, I suppose, so you can just head on up into the machine anytime, I have the cable to bring you up into the cockpit ready. Well then, if you'll excuse me," the maintenance crew member gave Saven a salute before turning and walking off to other duties.

Saven began walking to his new machine as his mind wandered. It didn't think of much. The yellow color of the machine reminded him of the GuAIZ Experimental Firearms Type though. The one Rilan had piloted. Saven hopped onto the cable line and gave it a tug to start lifting him up to the suit's cockpit.

That was when it happened.

_Something _had detonated nearby. Maybe a bomb or something, but at fifty feet over the ground, the force almost knocked Saven off of the line, and only his firm grip kept him on. As he reached the cockpit he jumped in and shut the outer door as he activated the systems. Through the open hangar door, Saven saw the hangar adjacent to Hangar 14 explode from a beam blast of some sort.

The prototype Zaku didn't have any hand-held weapons, so Saven prepared the two guns mounted on the Zaku's backpack near its hips to fire while he drew out the two beam sabers on the pack near the machines shoulders and ignited the two blades of light.

Saven quickly navigated the Zaku out of the hanger and immediately had to dodge a beam weapon's fire. But it was from…

Saven answered his thought aloud. "…Gaia?"

As Saven aimed the two guns, Gaia transformed into its mobile armor mode and disappeared behind another hangar, distracted with a new target. The prototype Zaku dashed through an alleyway between hangars and found himself facing Abyss Gundam.

Why are they attacking us?

That was Saven's thought as he fired his backpack-mounted guns at near point-blank range at his military's mobile suit. Abyss lurched backward from the force, but quickly swung its enormous axe at Saven. The Zaku raised its arm-mounted shield and blocked the weapon, pushing it off as he swung out with one of the beam sabers.

Abyss effortlessly dodged to the side and slashed out at Saven again. Moving under the swing of the beam axe the Zaku raised both beam sabers and slashed them forward. Leaping over the beam sabers, Abyss's main beam cannon on its chest began to glow. Time seemed to slow as Saven quickly navigated the Zaku to prepare to dodge the cannon.

He wasn't fast enough.

The cannon shot and ripped through half of the Zaku's head and its right shoulder, sending the machine flying backwards. Abyss paused, as if to attack Saven further, when a blue and white jet with three objects trailing it flew overhead.

Saven smiled. Shinn was here now, perhaps he could turn the tide.

**Special Notes and References:**

-In Gundam SEED Special #3, while Justice Gundam was flying towards Jachin Due with the Strike Rouge, he destroyed a GuAIZ Experimental Firearms Type.


End file.
